Cyclists hit elderly pedestrians on Bay bridge

Elderly pedestrians are sick of being “smacked” by bad-mannered adult cyclists on the Clyde River bridge at Batemans Bay.

An 85-year-old Surfside man was hurt on Wednesday after a bike struck him and the rider then failed to stop.

Bevan Manwaring can add to that incident his other “close shaves”, a direct hit a year ago on his wife Norma, two collisions that injured his friend and neighbour John Roberts and a “bump” to Mr Roberts’ wife Jenny.

Mr Manwaring no longer drives but, still liking to eat, walks across the bridge with his wife for groceries.

“We have no choice,” he said.

On Wednesday, “we were walking across the bridge and there were about six cyclists coming towards us and they just kept on going, they never even slowed down”.

“The first one hit me, a woman riding a bike with wide handlebars.”

The rider shouted an apology, “but she did not pull up”.

Mr Manwaring said he “was too busy cursing” to estimate her age, but Norma believes she was in her 40s.

Mr Manwaring sustained a cut and says his skin no longer heals quickly.

“I would like people to be a bit civil,” he said. “They don’t care, they just plough straight ahead.”

Norma says she has regularly had to “dive out of the way” - no mean feat at the age of 81.